Canada has bombed out of the FIBA Americas tournament without a berth in next summer’s World Cup.

Three straight losses sealed the men’s basketball team’s fate and dealt the rising program a considerable setback.

Jay Triano has tried all along to temper expectations, pointing to the age and experience disparity between Canada and its opponents, but qualifying was still a doable achievement. The club had been one of the best at the tournament in most categories until the losing skid and stayed right with veteran-laden Argentina on Sunday.

Leading all game until late in the third quarter, Canada had no answers for Luis Scola in a devastating 73-67 loss.

“There wasn’t one game where we weren’t competitive and I think that shows how close we are,” Triano said on a conference call.

“Our three best players are 22, 23 years old and we’re going up against men who have played at a high level for a long time. That’s why we’re here ... They need this experience and when they’re at that age, that’s when we hope to be a power in the world.”

Triano then harkened back to his first stint as head coach of Canada, when the Steve Nash-led squad defeated a young Argentine side in 1999, to qualify for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

“(Argentina) didn’t get to play in the 2000 Olympics, but came back and won the 2004 Olympics because they took that year in ’99 to groom the likes of a Scola and a (Manu) Ginobili. We know where we are and I know everybody is disappointed, nobody moreso than our players. These guys are huge competitors and we didn’t come here thinking we’re just going to get experience. We came here hoping to win. It didn’t happen, but the experience was gained and I think the future is still bright and I hope that the rest of Canada continues to back these guys and not turn on them because we didn’t qualify.”

Canada bowed out at 3-4 and now faces a potential summer off next year.

On Sunday, Scola, the MVP of this qualifying tournament three times in a row, was masterful, turning in a performance for the ages as the last star standing from Argentina’s golden generation. Using a variety of fakes, feints, passing and outside shooting, the Indiana forward absolutely dominated.

Coming off of a tough 81-74 loss to the Dominican Republic a day earlier, Canada got off to a good start and stayed in front until Scola took over, scoring 13 straight points for Argentina at one point.

A three-pointer at the buzzer put Canada down five heading into the fourth and some dubious calls and veteran gamesmanship allowed Argentina to claim the win in the end.

NBAers Cory Joseph, Andrew Nicholson and Tristan Thompson again led the way. Joseph had 19 points, Nicholson had 17 and Thompson had 10 rebounds to go with eight points. Canada’s outside shooting vanished again (16.7%) as a lack of scoring and depth again came back to bite a team that played solid defensively.

“The biggest fear was that scoring was going to be an issue for us,” Triano admitted.

“Everybody can say: ‘You have four NBA guys, but our four NBA guys average 25 points combined (in the NBA). It’s not like they’re going to double that or triple that when you play international games.”

Though Canada Basketball will try to organize exhibition games next summer, barring an unlikely wild-card berth, the team won’t play its next meaningful contest until Aug. 1, 2015, when qualifying begins for the Rio Olympics.

Triano isn’t expecting anybody to bail after this letdown in Venezuela.

“We need to get these guys together and play as many games as possible,” he said.

“I stay in touch with these guys all year all the time anyway and will now even moreseo because of the relationship we’ve all built over the last 40 days of being together. From the passion and the way these guys care, I don’t think there will ever be a recruiting period. These guys have bought in. They want to do this.”

They just couldn’t.

Yet.

WILD CARD THE ONLY HOPE

It’s highly unlikely, but there’s still a faint hope that Canada will be competing at next year’s World Cup in Spain.

The program can still get there if FIBA awards one of four available wild-card spots to one of its most promising up-and-coming member countries.

Brazil, the host of the next Olympics, is expected to claim one of the spots, China, with millions upon millions of basketball fans is a near lock for another and Russia and Turkey are front-runners as well. Just to be considered, countries must pay around $810,000 to apply and the spots are given based on a number of factors. The two times the system has been in effect, three of the spots have gone to European nations.

Canada Basketball has only recently found itself on solid financial footing and president Wayne Parrish did not respond when asked whether it would pony up to make a bid.

Following Canada’s loss to Argentina Sunday, head coach Jay Triano said he was “optimistic and hopeful” about getting a wild card spot.

“I honestly don’t know the criteria (last time they included popularity of basketball within the country, success of the team, and government support for the team’s National Federation), I think a lot of it has to do with how people view the Canadian program and where we’re going to be,” Triano said.

“Hopefully that’s a positive in our favour. We have people who are going to stay here (in Venezuela) and hopefully lobby with FIBA to make us one of those wild card teams. We’ll see what happens.”

Canada's hoop dreams all but dead

Canada has bombed out of the FIBA Americas tournament without a berth in next summer’s World Cup.

Three straight losses sealed the men’s basketball team’s fate and dealt the rising program a considerable setback.

Jay Triano has tried all along to temper expectations, pointing to the age and experience disparity between Canada and its opponents, but qualifying was still a doable achievement. The club had been one of the best at the tournament in most categories until the losing skid and stayed right with veteran-laden Argentina on Sunday.

Leading all game until late in the third quarter, Canada had no answers for Luis Scola in a devastating 73-67 loss.

“There wasn’t one game where we weren’t competitive and I think that shows how close we are,” Triano said on a conference call.

“Our three best players are 22, 23 years old and we’re going up against men who have played at a high level for a long time. That’s why we’re here ... They need this experience an